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OC Commits $4K To ESA Contest Webcast

OCEAN CITY – The Mayor and Council agreed this week to financially support this month’s Eastern Surfing Association’s Mid-Atlantic Regionals.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Mayor and City Council unanimously approved a request made by Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) Chairman Greg Shockley to allocate $4,000 of TABs annual funding to support a webcast of the Eastern Surfing Association’s (ESA) Mid-Atlantic Regionals. The last time Ocean City hosted the regional competition was in 2004.

According to ESA, they are the largest amateur surfing association. The association’s activities are organized into a total of 26 districts, which extend along nearly 2,000 miles of coastline, stretching from Maine through the Gulf Coast of Florida, Alabama and the Great Lakes across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

Over 500 competitors and their families, coming from Delaware south to South Carolina, will be in Ocean City during the Mid-Atlantic Regionals, which will be held in Ocean City May 9-12. The exact location is dependent on weather and surf conditions.

ESA requested $4,000 from TAB to do a live webcast of the competition. During the webcast, Ocean City will be given the opportunity to insert commercials or any plug of its choosing.

“It will enable surfers around the world to watch the mid-Atlantic regionals on their computers at home,” Shockley said.

In exchange for the $4,000 guarantee, the ESA agrees to provide B-Roll film of the event for the town to use in its marketing.

“B-roll is utilized for background or other purposes, so once you have the B-roll you can use that for future commercials and advertising … what it means is you then have the rights to utilize that for other purposes,” Mayor Rick Meehan said.

Shockley added with the recent reinstatement of the Tourism Commission, TAB, created in 2010 after a shift in council philosophy, has discussed its future.

“At this point, they are planning on continuing in the same role as they have as an incubator,” Shockley reported. “I know there are a couple of projects in the pipeline that we have already talked about. The only change would be it probably won’t meet on a monthly basis, it will probably go to a quarterly or as needed basis.”